San Jose Sharks win opener, 4-1 over Vancouver Canucks

By David Pollak dpollak@mercurynews.com

Posted:
10/03/2013 09:55:08 PM PDT

Updated:
10/04/2013 06:37:29 AM PDT

SAN JOSE -- New season, new faces, same results.

The Sharks opened their 2013-14 campaign Thursday night with a 4-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks -- extending their winning streak over their new Pacific Division rivals to four regular-season games plus the four-game sweep in last spring's playoffs.

The scoring was spread around, as San Jose got goals from familiar sources in Brent Burns and Patrick Marleau as well as some unfamiliar ones in Justin Braun and Tommy Wingels. Goalie Antti Niemi stopped 21 of the 22 shots he faced in earning the victory.

But it was the play of 19-year-old Tomas Hertl in his first NHL game that earned the most attention afterward.

"They said he was big, they said he was fast, that he had a good shot," Sharks captain Joe Thornton said of his new linemate. "But until you see it yourself, you don't know."

The 6-foot-2, 210-pound Czech native earned the primary assist on Burns' goal that tied the game at 1-1 early in the second period. After Thornton got his stick on a Vancouver pass in the neutral zone, the puck went to Hertl, who quickly moved it to Burns streaking down the right side.

"The coach has been all over Burnzie to shoot the puck, and that's the reason," Thornton said. "He has a great shot, just picked top corner, and it was beautiful."

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Hertl played 16:14 in his first NHL game. He got two shots on net, had three others blocked and was credited with two hits -- the most impressive coming late in the second period when he drilled Canucks defenseman Chris Tanev.

The Sharks had a second rookie playing in his first NHL game, as Matt Nieto, 20, took the place of injured Raffi Torres on the third line with Joe Pavelski and Wingels.

All of the Sharks goals came at even strength, and that had to please coach Todd McLellan, who focused all through training camp on their failure to do so last season. On the other hand, San Jose was 0 for 7 on the power play and at one point squandered a two-man advantage for a full two minutes.

Though the Sharks outshot Vancouver 16-7 in the first period, the Canucks took a 1-0 lead when defenseman Jason Garrison blasted the puck from the high slot to beat Niemi at 9:04. That came on the power play, though the Sharks held their ground on five other Vancouver opportunities with a man advantage.

The Sharks came back with two goals to take a 2-1 lead in the second period, the first by Burns at 5:53. The second came at 18:07 when Braun's shot found its way through traffic for the defenseman's first goal in 70 regular-season and 16 playoff games.

It was still a 2-1 game midway through the third period when Niemi made his biggest save of the night on forward Chris Higgins while the Canucks were on a power play.

"I just tried to cover the passing lane from behind the net and then just saw him shooting, so I tried to stop it with the pad," Niemi said. "Luckily, I got it."

The Sharks broke the game open when Marleau converted a perfect pass from Logan Couture to beat Roberto Luongo at 14:39 and Wingels finished off an odd-man rush with Andrew Desjardins just 78 seconds later.

Overall, McLellan liked his team's effort as well as the results.

"Some of the things we worked on throughout training camp were evident throughout the game," he said, "so that's a good sign."

Defenseman Brad Stuart, who is still recovering from an offseason lower body injury, missed the opener but could see action soon.

Veteran forward Tyler Kennedy was the only other new face for the Sharks. He played 17:10 on a line with Couture and Marleau, registering two shots and two hits.

A Vancouver reporter asked McLellan to respond to one publication's report that he was on the hot seat.

Canucks coach Alain Vigneault lost his job during the offseason, and there had been scuttlebutt that McLellan might have been fired if the playoff results were reversed.

"Alain and I ran into each other at the draft and we kind of looked at each other and just smiled," McLellan said. "When you get into this racket, the bullets are already flying around. It's just whether you're going to get hit by one."